Come Down Heavily On Sir And Jose
Posted 06/05/11 14:38
Recent insinuations and bald accusations by two of the game's most influential figures, Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho, about the integrity of referees serve as a greater threat to the fabric of the game than any of the distasteful histrionics and foul play that drew such ire during the El Clasico mini soap opera of recent weeks.Both men have been guilty recently of veiled and not so veiled accusations, suggesting that the men in the middle are either biased, downright crooked or both.
And both have been allowed do so for some time based on the flimsiest evidence. Yes, they have been censured and or their comments investigated, but stronger action needs to be taken lest their unsubstantiated accusations become corrosively conventional wisdom.Ferguson and Mourinho are giants of the game, and their words carry weight. Sling enough mud, and eventually it will stick.
Both managers clearly feel that they can influence referees through their public utterances in a way that will ultimately benefit their clubs. However, by constantly and very publicly undermining referees, they are
chipping away at a critical pil lar of the game - the core belief that match officials apply the rules of the game honestly and to the best of their ability. If we all suddenly came to believe otherwise, then competitive football is dead.Football needs referees. Without them, the game simply cannot function. Doubtless, however,
the constant insinuations of bias against match officials by respected figures in the game has made many serving refs consider their involvement in the game and is deterring many others from becoming referees. The impact will be felt at all levels of the game unless sterner action is taken against the peddlers of such corrosive, loose talk.
A good first step might be to insist that managers like Mourinho and Ferguson back their claims with stronger evidence than cherry-picked YouTube clips that totally ignore incidents which clearly undermine their accusations.
Take the Real Madrid's manager's claims last week, wherein he pinpointed several game changing decisions that he believed had helped Barcelona in recent seasons, whilst completely ignoring others, often in the same games, that did not support his conspiracy theory. It would be interesting to hear how he feels about Barcelona being reduced to 10 men at Stamford Bridge in 2009, Diego Milito's critical and clearly offside goal in Milan, and Bojan's late disallowed effort in the Nou Camp last season favoured the Catalans.To this end, more serious penalties than touchline bans and fines for unsubstantiated accusations against officialdom should be laid down. A season-long ban or even some form of legal action would surely have managers (and players) think twice before levelling accusations that are damaging to the reputation of individual refs and the game itself.
Ahead of the Champions League final at the end of this month, Sir Alex has said that he will be picking Mourinho's brains about opponents Barcelona. Hopefully, they won't discuss whether a pre-emptive strike on the match officials would be a worthwhile strategy.
Paul Little
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,13320_6916685,00.html
